Virginity Pledges: The Debate Continues

Virginity Pledges: The Debate Continues

Over
the past few years, we seen new studies presented, some claiming the
ineffectiveness of teen virginity pledges and others claiming their
effectiveness. In the newest study to be released, the conclusion is
that these pledges are ineffective. This no doubt, will add fuel to the
debate over governmental funding of abstinence education.

My most recent post on this issue (June 2008) was about a study that indicated that pledges can work. Click here to read that post.

Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds

Teenagers
who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have
premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are
significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth
control when they do, according to a study released today.

The
new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than
half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of
whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage
who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases
was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a
pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual
behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of
the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in
condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

Proponents
of such (virginity pledge) programs, however, dismissed the study as
flawed and argued that programs that focus on abstinence go much
further than simply asking youths to make a one-time promise to remain
virgins.